Overview: 

Participants in this afternoon event will leave with a comprehensive picture of the most ambitious current applications of cloud computing and the field's future promise, as well as authoritative information, both constructive and cautionary, that they can use if they're thinking about entering the cloud computing space themselves--whether as investors, customers, or entrepreneurs.

Participants:

The formal presentation and discussion will be led by Xconomy editors and invited keynote speakers and panelists from leading companies and universities.

The audience, reflecting Xconomy's broad high-level readership, will consist of approximately 100-125 entrepreneurs, technologists, investors, owners of high-growth businesses, university researchers, and select press.

Format:

The program will have two main components, capped by opening and closing keynotes, in an open and interactive, Nightline-style format.

The first session will look at the frontiers of cloud computing and how the biggest players are exploring its capabilities and pushing the state of the art.

The second session will drill down deeper into the more practical and to some extent more familiar side of things--including ways entrepreneurs, businesses, and consumers might start entering, developing, and using the cloud right now.

Agenda:

1:00-1:10 Call session to order; introduce sponsors, event, opening keynote
1:10-1:45 Opening keynote and Q&A
1:45-2:45 Session 1: The Cutting Edge of Cloud Computing
1:45-1:55 Mini-keynote
2:55-2:25 Panel discussion
2:25-2:45 Audience Q&A
2:45-3:00 Coffee and Cookie Break
3:00-4:00 Session 2: How to Enter the Cloud
3:00-3:10 Mini-keynote
3:10-3:40 Panel discussion
3:40-4:00 Audience Q&A
4:00-4:30 Closing Keynote and Q&A
4:30-5:30 Networking Party and tour of Akamai Network Operations Center

Questions to be raised:

• What is cloud computing? How many clouds are there? Where are they, who owns them--and what is the difference between cloud computing and utility computing, supercomputing, and software as a service?
• What is cloud computing being used for now, and what lies over the horizon?
• How does the promise differ for enterprises, small and medium-sized businesses, and consumers?
• Conversely, which tasks are still best suited for traditional mainframes or data centers?
• What cloud computing standards are emerging? What standards still have to be worked out?
• How will we have to adjust our approaches to privacy and security for the era of cloud computing?
• What technological and economic factors may limit adoption of cloud computing: the cost of RAM? disk storage? bandwidth? electricity? the difficulty of parallelizing software applications?
• What technological advances could render cloud computing obsolete, or create the next paradigm (perhaps moving computing back to the edges)?
• Will cloud users be comfortable with new, unfamiliar, potentially open/loose/nameless providers, or will they gravitate to trusted brands?

MITX members receive special attendee price of $75!
Visit the following registration link and enter the discount code: MITX

http://xconomyforum4.eventbrite.com/

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